Goldman Sachs analyst from around the world spent a recent September Friday imagining, building and presenting early versions of innovative product ideas for Marcus by Goldman Sachs, the firm’s consumer banking platform. Over 240 analysts participated in the third annual global hackathon sponsored by the New Analyst and Intern Committee.

Hackers had the opportunity to work with APIs from Marcus by Goldman Sachs, the firm’s consumer banking platform, which was launched in October 2016 to provide consumers with fixed rate, no-fee personal loans. Marcus’ customer-centric focus made for a challenging hackathon assignment: enhancements had to be technologically sound, but also optimized for a great customer experience.

Abundant coffee, pizza and doughnuts – essentials at any hackathon – fueled the 50 participating teams through eight hours coding and collaborating before the time came for pitching their ideas to the judges. Their products ranged from a data visualization of a loan termination to a “refer a friend” mechanism built into the Marcus homepage.

“Hackathons allow developers to start with a small idea and build, which can end up disrupting the entire product or industry,” said Rohan, an analyst in Prime Services Engineering and one of the hackathon organizers. “It feels great to see that the months of effort we put into the planning and execution of our hackathon resulted in so many awesome and innovative ideas.”

The judges, a panel of managing directors and vice presidents from Marcus by Goldman Sachs, announced the winning team, “Paradise Falls 2.0,” hailing from the London office. They developed an app to help customers pay off their loan using spare change made from credit card transactions. “I had the pleasure of spending some time with the US teams and watching their pitches and demos at the end of the day,” said Moe, a vice president in Consumer Lending Technology and one of the hackathon judges. “Seeing all this reinforced an important principle: nobody has a monopoly on good ideas, and innovation can come from all of us.”